He wound up dodging and weaving when asked to explain how to reconcile the contradiction."The position of the Supreme Court (which later became the Clarity Act), was accepted by the two sides of this great debate," Layton said. "So there is no necessity to go further then this because we have an excellent context for this possible discussion on this possible question."Pressed about whether the NDP still recognizes the 50per-cent level, the furthest Layton would go was to say: "It's there in our declaration."We'll follow the decision of the Supreme Court judges," he reiterated. "We think that's an appropriate framework. We don't need to be revisiting legislation."But our goal is not to see another referendum. Our goal is to create the winning conditions for Canada in Quebec."The term "winning conditions," is the one Layton used during the election campaign to portray himself as a strong nationalist or defender of Quebec's interests as a way to crush the separatist Bloc Québécois.

If there were a referendum on Quebec sovereignty, the NDP would accept a majority of 50% + 1, as required by the declaration of Sherbrooke. That at least is what Thomas Mulcair, NDP Deputy Leader and MP for Outremont, in an interview with Pierre Maisonneuve.